Preaching and Listening

A book in my library, The Audacity of Preaching, written by Rev. Dr. Gene E. Bartlett, has held my attention for years. The title has caused me to ask, "Where did I get the nerve, the audacity to expect people to rise early on Sunday morning, shower, dress and come to church, just because I was preaching?" Church members come into a room expecting me to be prepared to suggest remedies for doubts driven deep into their souls by the harsh realities of life. Each wants assurance that God is aware of the injustices experienced in the rough and tumble daily navigation through extraordinary demands of life – especially in the city. Others need to be urged to continue in the faith when they have been wearied to the bone by hundreds of averse experiences. Some need assurance that hope and healing are more than slogans or theories.

I am expected to say something! I should bring solace into stresses, and peace into pandemonium, and healing for sicknesses.

The ordination charge to novice preachers usually includes Saint Paul’s words to Timothy, In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations. (2 Timothy 4:1-5a) I heard that charge and have taken it seriously for nearly 47 years.

I have read that a few traditions include a balancing charge to the congregation attending an ordination: "I give you this charge, listen to the Word and do it!" However, I never heard that instruction in the 49 ordinations I have attended.

I believe in the power of preaching. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have followed the vocation assigned to me! But, I sometimes wonder if congregations prepare as much as preachers do. Do people really expect to hear something powerful enough to transform life? In my most recent preaching assignment I began with several questions. The first, "Will you join me in prayerful preparation? Will you pray, ‘Holy Spirit, enable me to hear what you say to the church. My world is noisy, my mind is busy, and my spirit is often dulled by the ordinary activities of life. Holy Spirit, I need you!’" After a brief period of silent prayer we sang the following prayer.
Spirit, now melt and move
All of our hearts with love,
Breathe on us from above
With old time power.

As we continued in prayer, I included the following, "Father, You have communicated Your will, Your wisdom, and Your warnings through faulty men and women throughout all generations. By preaching you have made your salvation known. Speak into all those lives gathered here today." Then, after a season of silent, meditative prayer we prayed the simple lyrics of a song that accompanied numberless calls to an altar,
Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,
Speak, and I’ll be quick to answer Thee;
Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,
Speak, and I will answer, "Lord, send me." I have sung those simple words of surrender since childhood. I was signing a blank check, urging Jesus to fill in the blanks of "when" and "where," and at "what cost." Because I listened, and because He spoke, I can look back and see a pattern of how the Spirit has led throughout a lifetime.

When we finally quieted, we prayed as a congregation, "Jesus, help me to learn as the Spirit teaches this morning. As I hear Your voice, help me to say, ‘Yes!’ to everything You ask of me through the Word I am about to hear. If I must wait as Your plans for my life unfold, please develop the fruit of patience in me. Amen."

I am reminded that in my childhood home the whole family made preparations for Sunday worship. Each family member did our Saturday chores which included Mom preparing a dinner that could be warmed up quickly after church. We boys shined our shoes. Clothes were freshly pressed. Dad, my brother and I sat and read the Sunday School lesson on the living room sofa and mastered the memory verse. Everything was ready for Sunday morning and evening in church.

Was our preaching-teaching efforts effective? I don’t know. It is too soon to evaluate. The need for pre-service preparation listening to and learning from the preacher must become a discipline over time. More exposures to these ideas and efforts in developing new habits are needed. Increased effectiveness is reached as active, prepared listeners participate in preparation to listen and obey. The Audacity of Preaching needs to be complimented with Daring to Listen and Obey.

For a congregation to experience the fullness of the Spirit’s work in public assembly, the people must prepare to listen just as the pastor prepares to preach. When they do, unsaved, dispirited, doubt-filled, and disease-fighting people sharing a room will sense the Spirit’s presence and work. The preparation must include more than singing and worship, as important as those disciplines are. Our lives are too fast-paced, too noisy, with too many demands for even an extended time of singing and worship to develop the kind of sensitivity and receptivity needed for the Spirit to break through into listeners’ spirits.

In short, preaching and listening are best experienced as an experience in teamwork.